With ever increasing computing power—increased clock frequency, more memory, wider data paths—also power consumption of computing equipment has increased. This in turn requires increased effort in removal of dissipated heat from the electronic components but also larger power supplies or—in case of mobile equipment—better energy storage (batteries). Many innovations have been implemented to reduce power consumption, but still the typical laptop drains its battery in less than a working day.
Besides reduction of power requirements in the field of the basic electronics (lower operational voltage for circuits f inst), some work has been done to also save power by simply powering down/switching off parts of a complex computing system when those parts are not needed for the current operation. The dichotomy is that computers often stand idle but consuming large amounts of power to maintain powerful processing capacitates, which is used only upon occasion. Many individuals computing needs could be met with little more than a smart-phones computing capacity.
Some attempts to address this issue have been made:
The international patent application WO2004064119 relates to a dual processor architecture—“Dualcor”—with two different processors and two operating systems (OS). These processors in this application are integrated on a single chip and share memory and graphics systems.
The Dualcor most resembles Intel patent number 20030088800 with the exception that it uses two OS to facilitate handheld use (read functionality) and reduced power consumption. Its claims are very similar to that of the Dualcor patent application.
An application presented by Marvell World, 20050182980 integrates a PDA (Personal digital Assistant) on to a Notebook computer, allowing the user to access the personal information management (PIM), email, and media (music) on a secondary screen with a several button input while allowing the x86 system to remain off, thus saving power. The computer includes a primary processor, a primary memory, and a primary input/output (I/O) interface that communicates with the primary processor and the primary memory. A primary display communicates with the primary I/O interface. The primary processor, the primary memory, and the primary display are operated in active and inactive modes and powered down when the computer is in the inactive mode. A secondary processor dissipates less power than the primary processor. A secondary display communicates with the secondary processor. The secondary processor and the secondary display are powered up when the computer is in the inactive mode. The secondary processor and display support PDA-like functionality when the computer is in the inactive mode.
The US patent application 20020129288 discloses a computing device having a low power secondary processor coupled to a keyboard controller for the primary applications: Media Notebooks—Instant on DVD/TV, which is designed to be installed over existing x86 systems. As such it does not have access to system components such as USB. In point 0017 of the patent it does provide for network connections, this seems to be directed toward connection to the Internet. The patent makes a full range of system peripheries available to the “secondary processor”.
Another US patent application 20030088800 presents a multi-processor mobile computer system having one low power processor integrated within a “highly integrated chipset” (Combined Northbridge and Southbridge) and a conventional main processor, thus creating a computer system having two processors of different clock frequencies and different levels of power consumption. An interface circuit can select one of the two processors to operate at a time to reduce power consumption without compromising the system performance.
Still there is a need for improving the prior art, which the present invention will do in several aspects.